William & Mary ties game on late goal, beats Drexel in double overtime

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- William and Mary earned a thrilling 11-10 double overtime victory against Drexel in its final conference game of the season on Sunday.

Ellen Shaffrey scored the game-winner off an assist from Kaleigh Noon with 10.8 seconds remaining in the initial period of the second overtime.

Prior to the thrilling finish, Amanda Johnson sent the game into overtime when she tied the score at 10-10 with a free position goal with 46.1 seconds remaining in regulation.

Johnson and Taelor Salmon led the Tribe (3-12, 1-4) with three goals apiece, while Shaffrey’s stat line included the game-winner and two assists. Zoe Boger also came up big with a team-high four draw controls to go along with three points (1g, 2a), while Abby Junior totaled three caused turnovers, three ground balls and three draw controls.

William & Mary owned a commanding 18-7 advantage in draw controls, while also totaling more ground balls (19-18) and shots (36-25).

Neither team was able to pull away early in the contest, as Drexel (6-9, 1-3) edged out to a 3-2 advantage midway through the first half. However, the Tribe closed out the initial stanza with a 5-1 run during the final 16:23 to build a 7-4 lead at halftime.

The College utilized a balanced attack in the opening 30 minutes, as five different players found the back of the cage. Additionally, W&M won nine of the 12 draws.

Drexel rallied back, however, by scoring five of the first six goals in the second half to lead, 9-8, with 7:57 remaining.

The Tribe briefly knotted the score at 9-9 on a goal by Kelly Martins off an assist from Shaffrey with 5:50 remaining, but Drexel’s Lacey Aghazarian put the Dragons back ahead when she scored with 3:22 showing.

After Johnson’s tying goal sent the game into overtime, neither team was able to score during the initial overtime session.

Although Drexel’s Madeline DiBrino won the draw in the second overtime, William & Mary's Alexi Farmakis forced Joelle Hartke into a turnover. After a shot by Farmakis went wide, the Tribe called a timeout to set up Shaffrey’s game-winning score that came on a terrific pass from Noon from behind the cage.